After falling Parliamentary support as parties turn against the SNP, Humza Yousaf has stepped down as First Minister, becoming the second shortest serving First Minister in Scotland.
This comes after a power sharing agreement with the Green Party fell apart, as the SNP failed to keep up with its green targets. The SNP formed a coalition government with the Greens in 2021, and rely on this coalition to keep a majority government.
Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens spoke on Yousaf’s resignation: “I think it’s the right thing for him to do”. She says that the people of Scotland will be “disappointed” about the power sharing agreement falling apart, as “people liked politicians working together”, and on the SNP dropping the Scottish Greens and the Bute House Agreement: “I don’t think it showed good judgement, I think it undermined our trust in him”.
This action comes before two votes of no confidence coming up, one against Yousaf as First Minister proposed by the Scottish Tories, and one put toward by Labour, which targets the entire Scottish government.
Deals with Alex Salmond’s Alba Party have been ruled out by the SNP, Labour and the Tories have proposed votes of no confidence, the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ plan to back both of these, and the Scottish Greens’ remain upset over the axing of the Bute House Agreement and have publicly announced that they’ll back a vote of no confidence against the FM. Stepping down was Yousaf’s only chance of leaving on his own terms.
Yousaf’s former competitor, Kate Forbes, wrote a piece for the National, calling for SNP loyalty and for the FM to be backed, whereas Ash Reagan, who defected to Alba, hasn’t expressed how she will vote, but does hold major disagreements with the SNP over trans rights. She has expressed that she is “willing to talk” with Humza Yousaf, and Alba could consider a deal if the SNP if Scottish independence was pushed as a bigger priority.
In his closing speech, he called on fellow politicians to “resist the temptation of populism at the expense of minorities”. He will “continue to champion the rights and the voices of those who are not often heard”. He said he held no ill will to other parties, and was “so grateful and so blessed to have the opportunity afforded to so few”.
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